Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Was Labour minister complicit in torture?

So papers are to be served on former Labour minister, Jack Straw, charging him with being complicit in the torture of Libyan oppositionist, Abdelhakim Belhadj, and so helping the Gadafi regime. Surely not?

But then you wouldn't expect a Labour Home Secretary to threaten union leaders with imprisonment for fighting on behalf of their members, as Straw did to John Hancock, then General Secretary of the union for prison officers, the POA, either. Straw later went on to ban the POA from taking strike action. It's not surprising then that the current POA General Secretary has become the third union general secretary to personally back the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the elections on May 3.

A party's ethics and outlook will be reflected in its approach at home and abroad. The trade union movement has to defend its gains, including the right of all trade unionists to take strike action but it also fights for our brothers and sisters abroad to enjoy the same rights. Labour has betrayed its founders on both counts; TUSC is true to trade union principles. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition campaigns against injustice and oppression wherever it takes place in the world.